All of the orders have been shipped and are now on the way to you! Once tracking is available, you will receive a confirmation email with tracking information. Please allow 24-48 hours for this information to update in the courier’s system.
If you have any questions, please visit our Help Center (massdrop.com/helpcenter).

The majority of the board games have shipped. People whose order has shipped should have received an email with tracking. Based on current estimates the rest of the units should be shipping throughout this week. As soon as the order ships in full we will make sure to update the group.
Thanks for your patience and expect an update from us on 2/16 or sooner if something comes up.

Thanks again for joining this drop! We have submitted the group's order with the vendor for the Merchants and Marauders Board Game and they are working hard to prepare it for shipment.
As soon as the group's order is ready at the vendor's location, they will ship the individual orders directly to you. The current estimated ship date is 2/12.
We will keep the group updated throughout the fulfillment process. You can expect an update from us by the end of the day Pacific Time on 2/8.
If you have any questions, please visit our Help Center (massdrop.com/helpcenter)

One of my favorite games out there, up there with Pandemic and Arkham Horror. Excellent Big Box game. It is a longer game, but if you are prepared for that, its not a detractor. Also, I always viewed the Merchant route as the timer, and Marauder route as the unknown. If people aren't aggressive enough with the pirate plan then the more cautious merchants will win. This typically means near the end of the game you see more adventurous and more desperate moves by the marauders resulting in increased fun for all. They win spectacularly or they fall flat on their faces!
A WONDERFUL game, and definitely worth $40 (or even better $35). Debating whether to face my wife's wrath spending money on ANOTHER board game to pick this up at this price...

Looks really interesting -- ranks #145 out of all board games on BoardGameGeek (https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/25292/merchants-marauders), and is essentially Sid Meier's "Pirates" videogame implemented in rich, thematic board game format.
Pros:
- nice production value, and won award nominations for game art
- very thorough thematic treatment, complete with many mechanics and nuances
- considered to be best Pirate-themed (complex) board game out there, blending elements of so-called "Ameri-trash" and "Eurogamer" playstyles
- open sandbox gameplay style which allows players to take a Merchant approach (slow and steady, going for the win by racking up victory points through trade and gold accumulation), or play more aggressively as a Pirate (much riskier, but higher reward -- Pirates can win the game more quickly, but can also die or fall hopelessly behind in the process).
Cons:
- main criticism #1 seems to be around gameplay length due to downtime while waiting for other players to complete their turns. Game designer Christian Marcussen addresses this with a nice proposed rule variant:https://boardgamegeek.com/thread/841389/port-end-turn-minimizing-downtime-beta (can also shorten game length by reducing Victory Points needed to win from 10 to 8)
- main criticism #2 seems to be around merchants being able to avoid conflict and win the game too easily (especially with a conflict averse group with too few pirate players). The game designer's CutThroat rule variant fixes this by making things a bit tougher for merchants and more fun for pirates: https://boardgamegeek.com/thread/586759/cutthroat-variant-beta
With these two rule tweaks likely shortening game length and better balancing play between Merchants vs. Pirates, I think this game becomes a Must Own if you're a fan of the theme and genre! :)